Florida School Boards Association
A parent in Florida is citing profanity and violence in trying to get the local school to ban Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” — itself a cautionary tale on the banning of books. Another wants to remove Walter Dean Myers’ “Bad Boy” for using the word “penis” and a homophobic slur. Elsewhere in Florida, some say…
The Florida Constitution Revision Committee continues its quest of meddling in Florida’s Constitution rather than mending it. Monday, the group will consider three measures connected to county school boards and superintendents. Read More
A proposal to impose term limits on school board members will be taken up Monday as the Florida Constitution Revision Commission begins to evaluate 103 measures aimed at changing the state constitution.The term-limit measure (Proposal 43) is sponsored by Commissioner Erika Donalds, a Collier County School Board member. Read More
Collier County School Board member Erika Donalds thinks she is paid too much. Donalds, a member of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission, proposed a constitutional amendment that would eliminate salaries for school board members in Florida. Commissioners will vote in the spring to decide which proposals will be placed on the 2018 ballot. Twenty-two of…
From banning the death penalty to creating an elected secretary of state, members of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission have filed more than five-dozen proposals to change the state Constitution. The 37 members of the commission, which meets every 20 years and has the power to place amendments directly on the November 2018 ballot, had…
As part of its ongoing work to aid hurricane relief efforts, today the Department of Education released new non-regulatory guidance to help Department grantees and program participants remove barriers to restoring teaching and learning environments and to expediting the recovery process for all those impacted by the recent hurricanes. Read More
Some of Florida’s lowest-performing traditional public schools will have to wait a bit longer to find out if they’ll be among the 25 schools that will get financial help through a new state program called “Schools of Hope.” The State Board of Education was supposed to meet in Tallahassee on Wednesday to select the recipients…
Hurricane Irma could delay some Florida taxpayers’ voices from being heard. It’s an unavoidable case of timing. The powerful hurricane bore down on the state as cities, counties, school boards and other taxing bodies were scheduling two public hearings required by law before they can set property tax rates for the new fiscal year. Read…
Schools in at least 20 counties across Florida have cancelled classes for Hurricane Irma.The Florida School Boards Association confirms that response plans from the school district have improved since previous storms, and students should be able to return to school shortly after the storm. Read More
How do you fix struggling schools? One idea: Pay teachers more. Teacher bonuses are among several ideas the Miami-Dade and Broward school districts have proposed as they compete for additional funding through a controversial new state program designed to rehabilitate Florida’s lowest performing schools while potentially supplanting them with privately run charters. Read More